I'll Face Myself
by Lightning515
Summary: Karma talks. Nagisa listens. Secrets are revealed.


**Summary: Karma talks. Nagisa listens. Secrets are revealed. Sequel fic to Vampires Will Never Hurt You.**

 **Beta'd by WaiiKitsune**

 **Dedicated to kilala2tail**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Assassination Classroom**

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The walk to Karma's place was quiet, lacking the usual banter and casual conversation that the pair tended to have on the way home. It wasn't a tense silence, but it lacked the comfortableness that usually settles between them.

Karma led the way briskly, bag slung over his shoulder and his hands shoved in his pockets in an attempt to avoid fidgeting. He wanted to say something, to start some small talk about their lack of homework or their weekend plans, but his attempts ended up stuck in his throat. Grimacing slightly, he briefly glanced back at Nagisa, noticing how his hands were clenched around his backpack straps and his eyes were unfocused, as if deep in thought.

He sighed as he pulled to a stop, Nagisa noticing just before he crashed into Karma. "Well, this is my place," he said, gesturing to the house they were standing in front of.

Nagisa looked up, taking in his surroundings for the first time. The neighborhood they were in was relatively calm, considering it was well into the afternoon. Aside from a few people taking strolls or running errands, him and Karma were the only ones on the street. They stood next to a small gate with a nameplate inscribed with Karma's family name located on the wall just off to the side. The house was small and quaint, one-story high with a well-maintained front lawn. But despite its nice appearance, Nagisa couldn't shake the feeling that the house just radiated emptiness, as if it was abandoned.

Karma opened the gate and made his way across the front yard, coming to a stop just in front of his front door. "You coming?" he asked, his hand holding the key hovering just above the keyhole.

"Ah!" Nagisa jolted out of his thoughts and ran over to his friend. Karma merely shook his head before opening the door and making his way inside, Nagisa following close behind.

Despite having been close friends since elementary school, the pair tended to avoid hanging out at each other's places. They each had their own reasons… and it was now apparent to Nagisa why Karma never had people over. The house was sparsely furnished, the living room only having a sofa, a coffee table, and a single lamp. All of the curtains were pulled tightly shut, casting the whole house in darkness, giving the atmosphere an eerie feel. There was a single hallway leading out from the living room, leading to two doors that Nagisa assumed would be a bedroom and a bathroom.

Slipping off his shoes, Karma dropped his bag by the entrance without a care and walked into his kitchen. "Go ahead and sit down, I'll make some tea," he said as he rummaged around several cabinets before finding an unopened box of tea. Nagisa popped into the kitchen briefly and offered to help but Karma waved him off to the living room. As he was leaving, though, Nagisa couldn't help but notice how barren the kitchen seemed. The counters were covered by a thin layer of dust and he didn't see any food or ingredients in plain sight.

(Something told him that the lack of food visible wasn't because Karma wanted his kitchen orderly and clean.)

With the water slowly bubbling on the stove and a cup with a tea bag set out, Karma opened the fridge and pulled out his own drink. The fridge itself was also rather empty, save a few packets and a few takeout containers. He began to make a mental list of things he should restock on as he poured the now-boiling water into the teacup, seeping the tea for a bit before tossing the tea bag in the trash and making his way over to the living room.

Nagisa was standing next to one of the curtains, hand reaching up to pull it open and light up the dim room when Karma entered. Without even thinking, Karma placed the drinks down on the coffee table and crossed living room in a matter of seconds, grabbing Nagisa's wrist just before he was able open the curtains. Nagisa flinched at the contact, frozen from the tight grip around his wrist as he looked nervously over at his friend. "K-Karma…?"

Karma stared unseeingly at the curtains, fangs protruding menacingly and red eyes glinting dangerously in the dim lighting. It was a few seconds before Karma registered Nagisa saying his name, blinking a few times as the red slowly receded from his eyes. He took a step back as he released his grip on Nagisa's wrist, giving Nagisa a lookover before turning his gaze downward. "Sorry. Direct sunlight gets irritating for a while, so keep the curtains closed." Ignoring the way Nagisa stared at him inquisitively, he walked over and flipped a light switch, casting the room in a pale orange glow, before heading to the sofa and sitting down, reaching for the packet set on the coffee table.

After a moment, Nagisa sat down across from Karma, picking up the teacup in front of him and blowing at the hot liquid. For the first time today, he took in how exhausted his friend looked: the dark bags under his eyes that he never noticed before, the sag of his shoulders, the carefully-impassive expression hiding his true feelings.

 _(How did he not notice this before?)_

Karma poked a hole in his packet, taking a long drink of its crimson-redness contents and well-aware of Nagisa eyeing the packet. "It's a blood packet," Karma sighed, unable to stand Nagisa's staring any longer. "I can eat regular food, but every so often I need blood. All of the blood I drink is from donations though."

Nagisa nodded. Karma had always brought a packet to school, but he had always thought it was a regular juice packet. "Did Koro-sensei know?" he asked as he lowered his drink, remembering how Koro-sensei pulled Karma aside during lunch break earlier this week.

"Yeah. He was worried I was looking a little pale. Not that he had anything to be worried about; the sun was just more irritating that day," Karma shrugged.

"Does sunlight burn you?"

He shrugged again, taking another sip of blood. "It doesn't burn as much as it does for full-bloods. For full-bloods, a few minutes in the sun could lead to severe sunburn, which is why they tend to slip from shadow to shadow. But for half-bloods, the most they get from prolonged exposure is irritated skin and headaches."

Nagisa took a sip of his tea. Karma did tend to take the shadier path when they walked to school, as well as steer him away from eating on the rooftop on more sunny days. He thought back more and suddenly, things that he had once shrugged off as Karma's quirks were slowly beginning to make sense in his mind. And now he was realizing that despite having been friends since early elementary school, he knew very little about Karma about his past or his personal life.

Silence fell between them once more, each deep in their own thoughts.

A moment passed before Karma spoke once more, Nagisa lifting his head at the sound of his voice. "Let me tell you a story." His voice lacked the confidence, instead quiet and soft, almost resigned. It was clear to Nagisa that this was no ordinary story. He put his teacup on the table and leaned closer, paying close attention to the words being spoken.

Karma cleared his throat once before beginning. "It wasn't often that vampires fell in love with humans, due to the difference in their lifespans, but it happened every so often. One such pure-blood came to Japan and fell in love with a human woman. Every time this weak-willed vampire tried to leave, he always found himself thinking of his human and before long, he would return. It didn't take her long to find out what he was, given the amount of time they spent together, but the foolish human wished to stay by his side and the vampire agreed without hesitation."

If Nagisa wasn't sitting right in front of him, he wouldn't believe that it was Karma sharing the story. The words were spoken in a narrative-like manner, his voice clear and even and still softer than his normal voice, with just the barest hint of sadness, but still disconnected from the story he was telling. It was almost as if he was another person.

Karma's expression was carefully blank as he continued, each word careful and measured. "It wasn't long before they had a child: a dhampir, of course. At first, they were delighted to have a child and watched over him carefully. The mother taught him how to integrate into society while the father taught him the basics of the supernatural world. Life was calm and peaceful for the small family, but not for long. The vampire and human loved each other more than they loved the child and it wasn't long before they left, not wanting to waste what little time the woman had left."

Nagisa could see Karma's eyes slowly turning red as he continued his story, even as his expression remained carefully neutral. "The child had barely started elementary school when they abandoned him. He needed to survive, but there was no one to help him but himself and he turned rogue. He did what he needed to in order to live, relying on underground sources to get the blood he needed. Even so, he was careful. Despite the young, he knew how the supernatural were scorned and feared by humans."

Nagisa frowned as he thought back to when they were younger. He could vaguely remember a time in elementary school when Karma would skip classes several days a week. At the time, Karma was simply another student going through a rebellious period and no one thought much of it and by the end of the year, he had returned and was much better behaved. "Did y-," Nagisa cut himself off, carefully meeting Karma's eyes with a calmness that didn't reflect how he felt inside. Then, softly, he asked, "Did he… have to... kill anyone?"

Karma pursed his lips. "... No. No. He never had to stoop that low. And if anything…" He drifted off, his gaze growing distant as he stared at a spot on the floor between them. "He would rather _die_ than kill someone else."

The dhampir said it with such conviction and certainty that Nagisa couldn't doubt him. His eyes narrowed with brief resignation and his arms lay limply in his lap, still holding the blood packet in his hands. Nagisa's heart clenched at the sight as he saw for the first time the turmoil that his friend struggled with every day reflected in those blood-red eyes.

"A year passed, and the child met a man named Karasuma Tadaomi. Karasuma didn't ask anything of the child; he simply got the young dhampir a stable and legal blood supply, as well as a house to live in. The dhampir was indebted to Karasuma-san…"

"But… even now…" Karma hesitated for a brief moment before continuing, "I wonder what would have happened if he hadn't been found by Karasuma. If I…"

The words, though unspoken, rang loud between them. Nagisa clenched his fists in his lap, his eyes burning with unshed tears. He swallowed and took a shuddering breath before speaking. "Karma…"

"So Nagisa. Are you scared yet? Your best friend who you thought was human actually is a monster, just like one of those that attacked us today!" Karma laughed self-deprecatingly. "Who knows, maybe one day I'll lose control of myself—"

"NO!" Nagisa shouted as he stood, glaring at Karma. "How could you say that?! Whether you are a human or a dhampir doesn't change who you are!" He bit his lip as he glanced to the side, before steeling his resolve and facing Karma. "It doesn't matter who or what you are. You are still Karma and… you are still my friend."

Karma stared at Nagisa, his expression finally different for the first time since he began his story, mouth slightly open in shock. He then tilted his head downward, bangs covering his expression. Worried that he said something wrong, Nagisa gulped and moved around the coffee table to stand next to his friend when Karma began laughing.

It started with his shoulders shaking with small chuckles but within minutes, both him and Nagisa were holding their sides in laughter and the previous tension in the air all but gone. "Ah, Nagisa," Karma said, still slightly out of breath. "You never fail to amaze me.

...But… thanks."

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 **A/N: Written as a birthday fic for kilala2tail!**

 **Ciao Ciao~**

 **Kyu**

 **Published 8 September 2018**


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